slowly, and then all at once
by The Original Horcrux
Summary: "I fell in love with you in the same way that people fall asleep; slowly, and then all at once." - John Green .:For MissDominiqueLysander:.


_For __**MissDominiqueLysander**_

* * *

slowly, and then all at once

I didn't know why all of the nostalgia hit me at once.

Maybe it was something to do with the fact that it would be the last time I would see Hogwarts as a student, maybe it was because I had just left behind the place where I had spent most of my childhood, the place where I had looked forward to going the most. I had told myself that I wouldn't cry when we left the castle for the last time and I had stayed true to that, but now that the train was pulling away from the castle, everything hit me at once and tears started to fall from my eyes. I wiped them away hastily, hoping that nobody had noticed.

Of course, I had no such luck. Damn Scorpius, he noticed everything. Thankfully, he and I were in the same boat and I could tell as he pulled me into a tight embrace that he too was holding back tears. Hogwarts had been just as much a part of his life as it had of mine.

"It's okay Rosie," he said, kissing the top of my head as we boarded the train for the very last time, "It's not goodbye for good."

"I know," I said, biting my lip and fighting to contain my composure as we walked down the aisle between the compartments, looking for an empty one. I turned to see Ella, my best friend with her hand clasped in Albus' one. Ella had no problems with letting her tears out, Albus however looked like he was a constipated frog he was trying that hard to keep his tears in.

"Al," I sniffed, laughing slightly, "Nobody's going to think any worse of you if you cry."

"Oh thanks Rosie, glad I've got your permission," Al said with a slight grin and I could hear the tears in his voice. I gave a watery laugh as I wiped fresh tears away. I didn't know why I was crying so much. I'm just not an emotional person.

"Here we go," Scorpius said as we finally found an empty compartment near the middle of the train which was, thank god, away from the first years who were all hyped up at just having finished their first year at Hogwarts.

"Rosie," Ella said, lifting her head out of Al's chest and wiping her eyes so that she smudged the mascara she was wearing for graduation all over her cheeks.

"Mmm," I said, turning around to face her as Scorpius headed into the compartment and sat down.

"Al and I are going to get our own compartment," she said slightly hesitantly and I immediately grinned.

"Yeah that's fine," I said, winking at her and Al in turn, "I get that you two have needs, but please pull the curtains before you start anything, we don't want first years knowing about that stuff before their time."

Ella gave me a deadpan look, "Funny," she said sarcastically, "You're like little miss innuendo today, you're worse than Albus and Scorpius combined!"

"Let's just say that Scorpius has rubbed off on me a bit," I smirked. Al snorted. "Oi," I said, brandishing my finger at him, "Watch it mister, or I'll skin you alive."

Al just rolled his eyes at me. I had used that phrase too many times now for it to be effective anymore, "See you at Kings Cross, Rosie." Al said as he pushed past me, Ella's hand still clasped in his. I was glad to see that they had stopped crying and smiles had replaced their tears because I hate it when people cry. It makes me cry, and I hate it when I cry. It gives me a monster headache and makes my face go a similar colour to my hair. Some girls are pretty criers but not me. I'm the ugliest crier ever, which is exactly why I don't cry very often.

"Where's the Potbottom going?" Scorpius asked as I slid into our compartment and shut the door behind me, locking it to make it clear to the first years that they were not welcome under any circumstances.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I sat down opposite and leaned my head against the window, looking up at the castle that sat on top of the hill, "The what?" I asked him.

"The Potbottom," he said cheerily, "It's the name that I've given to Albus and Ella as long as they're together. I couldn't make anything work with their first names…."

I bit my lip to keep from giggling, "You're terrible," I said with a smile, "And because it's you it has to be something offensive, like 'The Potbottom'"

"I'm a genius, admit it Rosie Rose," Scorpius said, leaning over and poking his tongue out childishly at me. I pushed him away playfully.

"I'm smarter than you though," I said, raising my eyebrows up and down in quick succession.

"You are not!" Scorpius whined, falling back into his seat as he looked frustrated at the thing I hadn't been able to let slide; the fact that I had beaten him by one mark in the NEWTs.

"I still beat you though," I said.

"One mark!" He complained, "It doesn't count Rosie!"

"It's still one question that I got right and you got wrong," I said with a wink.

"You're so mean to me," he said, crossing his arms and sticking out his lower lip, looking up at the castle as I had been just minutes before he had made me bring up his test mark. I rolled my eyes and rested my head against the window with a smile on my face. Scorpius never failed to make me smile. I scanned the castle, looking for Gryffindor tower and the window that I had looked out of almost every day for seven years. I knew I'd be able to find it; we could see Hogsmeade from our dormitory. _Six down, eight across_ I thought, remembering the pattern that Ella and I had made up when we were sitting in the Three Broomsticks together and were trying to find the window. With the same foolproof method, I found it. I knew it was ours because one of our roommates, Paula Laurence, had painted a big 'PAULA WAS HERE' on the window in pink paint. I wish the house elves luck in getting it off. It's probably permanently stuck there or something like that.

Without warning, the train jerked and started to move slowly.

"Shit," I said, biting my lip and feeling my heart start to pound as I watched the castle that I had been peacefully looking up at before start to slide along the window. I felt tears spring to my eyes and practically leapt at Scorpius to sit next to him so I could see the castle for longer.

"God Rosie, no need to attack me," He said as I managed to scramble off him and fall somewhat skilfully into a seat next to him and managed to retain absolutely zero of my dignity.

"Oh calm yourself, I save the attacking for the good looking guys," I joked as the train started to speed up and Hogwarts started to get smaller and smaller as it faded into the distance. To Scorpius' credit, he didn't say a word. No snide remark, or innuendo, just silence as we watched our home, the place where we had done most of our growing up shrink away from us, like it was no longer a part of our life.

We watched the many turrets and towers for what seemed like hours, but really it was only fifteen minutes before the train rounded the corner and we were speeding through Scottish countryside. I flopped back into my seat, feeling completely numb and very lost.

"It's over," I said emotionlessly, "What the hell do I do with my life now?"

"You move on," Scorpius said and I could've sworn I saw him subtly wipe away a tear as he sat down, "You can't stay a child forever Rosie."

"Shut it you," I snapped, "you sound like my mum."

Scorpius laughed, "No way, your mum is like a billion times more intelligent than me."

"Damn straight Hyperion, you don't even know how much a billion is."

"Don't call me Hyperion, it's embarrassing."

"I'm your girlfriend, that's my right."

"Fair enough, Flame."

"Fuck you, hair jokes are off limits,"

Scorpius just laughed and cupped my face with his hands and instantly all irritation towards him left my body as his lips touched mine. I loved the feeling of his lips. They were chapped, but not too chapped and they moved in a perfect rhythm to mine.

His hand moved to the small of my back, supporting me as he leaned forward a bit and it was then that I felt the bulge in his pants. I pulled away abruptly and whispered, "Not on the train goddamnit!"

Scorpius grinned at me as his pale cheeks blushed a deep red, "Sorry," he said looking at his lap as he moved to conceal the tent in his trousers, "Couldn't help it."

"Why are you so horny today?" I asked.

"Oh god," Scorpius said, putting his head in his hands, "Rose you pretty much stuck your hands down my pants, I'm not horny at all… well I am now."

"Did I?" I asked, alarmed.

"For crying out loud!" Scorpius said, "Can we please not? I seriously don't want to talk about this right now."

"That makes two of us," I said assuredly, nodding my head quickly while trying to think of something to change the subject to. I found nothing.

"So," Scorpius said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "What are you going to do when you get home?"

"Probably sit down and have muggle movie marathons with my mum while I binge on cake." I said, my voice turning miserable again as I remembered that I wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts next year.

"Hey, I thought we agreed that only Valentine's day is the cake binging day," Scorpius said, "It has been ever since fifth year when we sat in the kitchens for hours with cake feeling depressed because we had nobody to be our Valentine."

"Yeah, I think that was the day that you kissed me, wasn't it?"

"If I remember correctly," Scorpius said, "It was."

I smiled as I remembered February 14th two years ago. It had been the best and worst day of my life mixed into one but the best had gradually won out the worst and my life had been pretty much brilliant ever since (well not really, but thinking about the bad stuff makes me sad, so I'm not doing that right now.)

Scorpius was staring at me thoughtfully.

"What?" I asked, immediately rubbing my nose because when Scorpius started staring, it was normally because I had dirt on my nose.

"You know," Scorpius said, cocking his head to one side, "I fell in love with you in the same way that you fall asleep; slowly, and then all at once."

I couldn't help it, I put my hand behind his head and pulled his face towards mine, linking our mouths in a kiss once more. I wished that this moment could last forever, that we could stay here, in this carriage, kissing, but unfortunately I'm not a mermaid and I need to breathe once in a while and eventually, I had to pull my lips away from his.

I smiled at Scorpius and Scorpius smiled back. Suddenly, leaving Hogwarts didn't seem so sad anymore… because I was with him.

* * *

**AN: Anything you recognise isn't mine (well Ella is but you may recognise her from somewhere else but she's still mine!)**

**Anyway, MissDominiqueLysander, I hope you liked this! **

**I still have two spots left in my 'Year Of Gifting'. All the info is on my profile under 'GIVING BACK IN 2013' so If you want a gift-fic written just for you, all you have to do is PM me with your pairings. **

**DFTBA,  
Best Wishes**

**~The Original Horcrux~**


End file.
